Android Tutorial

Android Tutorial 401

Using SMS

SMS usage has become ubiquitous in the last several years.

Integrating messaging services, even if only outbound, to an

application can provide familiar social functionality to the user. SMS

functionality is provided to applications through the

android.telephony package.

Screen showing formatting results after entering only digits.

Gaining Permission to Send and

Receive SMS Messages

SMS functionality requires two different

permissions, depending on if the

application sends or receives messages.

The following XML, to be placed with

Android Manifest .xml, shows the

permissions needed for both actions:

<uses-permission

android:name=”android.permission.SEND_SMS”/>

<uses-permission

android:name=”android.permission.RECEIVE_SMS”

/>

Sending an SMS

To send an SMS, an application first needs to get an instance of the

SmsManager. Unlike other system services, this is achieved by

calling the static method get Default() of SmsManager:

final SmsManager sms = SmsManager.getDefault();